Lawson v. Life of the South Ins. Co., ___ F.3d ___ (11th Cir. Aug. 10, 2011) (declining to enforce a no-class-action arbitration clause under third-party beneficiary or equitable estoppel theories; the defendant was not a party to the contract containing the clause and the claims did not arise under that contract (citing Mundi v. Union Sec. Life Ins. Co., 555 F.3d 1042 (9th Cir. 2009))

Millea v. Metro-North Rwy Co., ___F.3d ___ (2d Cir. Aug. 8, 2011) (reversing statutory attorneys' fees award and remanding for recalculation; "Especially for claims where the financial recovery is likely to be small, calculating attorneys’ fees as a proportion of damages runs directly contrary to the purpose of fee-shifting statutes: assuring that civil rights claims of modest cash value can attract competent counsel. The whole purpose of fee-shifting statutes is to generate attorneys’ fees that are disproportionate to the plaintiff’s recovery. Thus, the district court abused its discretion when it ignored the lodestar and calculated the attorneys’ fees as a proportion of the damages awarded.")

In re Zurn Pex Plumbing Products Liability Litigation, ___ F.3d ___ (8th Cir. Jul. 6, 2011) ("[Defendant]'s desire for an exhaustive and conclusive Daubert inquiry before the completion of merits discovery cannot be reconciled with the inherently preliminary nature of pretrial evidentiary and class certification rulings. [¶] The main purpose of Daubert exclusion is to protect juries from being swayed by dubious scientific testimony. That interest is not implicated at the class certification stage where the judge is the decision maker."; affirming class certification of warranty and negligence claims and distinguishing Dukes)